HM slave no longer? Tropius Discussion

Zemyla

Zemyla


Tropius

Tropius has widely been regarded as an HM slave, but I think that new moves and traits give Tropius the ability to actually deal some damage in combat, at least in the UU arena.

Stats: 99 HP/68 Atk/83 Def/72 SAtk/87 SDef/51 Spd/460 Total

The stats place it squarely in the UU arena. The nice HP/Def/SDef make it look tanky, but its type hurts it quite a bit, whith weaks against the common rock, ice, and flying, as well as the less common fire and poison. The SAtk looks low, but there are ways to boost it.

Traits:
Chlorophyll: When Sunny Day is in effect, Tropius's Speed is Doubled
Solar Power: When Sunny Day is in effect, HP decreases but Special Attack increases

Chlorophyll is the same trait that it has always been on grass types, but Solar Power looks very interesting. Of course, I don't yet know how much HP decreases and SAtk increases, since it's not in the Traits thread.

Physical Movepool:
Aerial Ace
Body Slam
Earthquake
Frustration/Return
*Leaf Blade
Steel Wing

Fairly bad, and even though its physical and special stats are close, Solar Power doesn't boost Atk, though, but it does get Swords Dance to make up for it. The fact that it finally gets Leaf Blade is awesome, though.

Special Movepool:
Air Slash
Energy Ball
Giga Drain
Hidden Power
Leaf Storm
Solarbeam
Silver Wind

This is even worse, as there are only two moves that it can use that are of a different type. But given that most sunnybeamers only use two special moves, this might work.

It also gets Air Slash :D

Support Movepool:
Curse
Growth
*Leech Seed
Rest
Roost
Safeguard
Sunny Day
Swords Dance
Synthesis
Whirlwind

It's fairly good, enough to warrant using. It's your choice whether it gets Roost or Synthesis for its healing move.

And, of course:
HMs
Cut
Defog
Fly
Rock Smash
Strength

No Tropius discussion would be complete without this.

Movesets:
Physical Tropius
Tropius @ Leftovers
Nature: Adamant (+Atk -SAtk)
Chlorophyll
-Aerial Ace
-Earthquake/Roost
-Leaf Blade
-Swords Dance

It's fairly simple to use this. SD up and start attacking. You're kind of slow, though, so keep that in mind. You can use Earthquake for better type coverage (especially against Fires and Steels) or Roost for healing. You're too slow to use it to guard against Ice, though.

Sunny Tropius
Tropius @ Leftovers/Life Orb
Nature: Modest (+SAtk -Atk)
Solar Power
-Air Slash/HP Ice/Fire
-Solarbeam/Energy Ball/Giga Drain
-Sunny Day
-Synthesis/Roost

This is simple too; set up a sunny day and sweep. The Leftovers are for if you want your Tropius to stay in longer, or Life Orb for fairly massive damage. If you're worried about Tyranitar coming in and ruining your fun, you can substitute Energy Ball and Roost for Solarbeam and Giga Drain. Air Slash is recommended over the HPs, since it has higher power and STAB, and will likely do as much damage to those who don't quad resist it.

Final Comments: None for now, other than that it's funny that it learns so many HMs. It should be a solid fit in UU. It won't work in 00bers with Groudon, considering how many teams there pack Ice Beams for Lati@s and other flying threats.
 
Tropius@Nothing
- Strength
- Defog
- Fly
- Rock Smash

Still its best use sadly lol

More seriously, I think some sort of Leech Seed or pseudo haze set with roost support could work.
 
Synthesis should always be used instead of Roost. Why?
1. Both heal 50% of the max HP under normal conditions.
2. If Sunny Day is out, Synthesis heals 66% of the max HP, while Roost only heals 50%.
3. Synthesis keeps Tropius airborne, while Roost leaves Tropius open for Ground type moves. Grass resists Ground, but staying airborne is better because Ground attacks do no damage.

The only thing Roost is better at is having the 10 PP. Well, after maxing Synthesis's PP, it can reach 8/8 which is still more than it'll ever need in a single battle.
 
On the other hand, Roost has the side effect of turning its 4x ice weak into a 2x one. Which will happen as long as it goes first.

However, looking at its speed stat it looks unlikely to happen.
 
I was actually thinking the complete opposite.

Not only does Roost nearly always give benefits to Tropius' type (losing Rock/Ice weak and giving Grass resist).

The main reason though is that Sandstream will be very common in D/P, meaning Synthesis will more often than not heal 25%/33% (whichever it is) than 66% or maybe even 50%.
 
Synthesis also has less PP, but I doubt it will live long enough for that to be an issue. Tropius gains little by keeping its Flying type -it already resists Ground and only affords resistance to Fighting. In return, it takes Rock neutral, resists Electric and takes 2x damage from Ice Beam.

Solar Power sounds cool, but ultimately useless unfortunately. Tropius needs both traits to be of any use, because both speed and special attack are just abysmal.

A supporter set is probably your best shot -Leech Seed/Whirlwind/screen/Air Slash, with the last move for Grass types that aren't touched by Leech Seed. Lay down some Spikes and this could work quite well: Leech Seed if they stay in, Whirlwind if they switch.
 
That could work only with para support, as it's too slow for subseeding. Being able to hit Grassers is cool though.
 
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